Draft-regulator for orchard-heaters.



W. C. SCHEU.

DRAFT REGULATOR FOR ORCHARD HEATERS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.IO,19I4.

Patented Apr. 6, '1915.

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O ATTORNEY.

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WILLIAM C. SCHEU, OF GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO ASSIGNOR. TO HAMILTONORCHARD HEATER COMPANY, OF WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA, A CORPORATION 'OFWEST VIRGINIA.

DRAFT-REGULATOR- FOR ORCHARD-HEATERS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 6, 191-5.

Application filed April 10, 1914. Serial No. 830,941.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WVILLIAM C. ScHEU,

a citizen of the United Statesof America, and resident. of GrandJunction, county of Mesa, and State of Colorado, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements in Draft-Regulators for Orchard-Heaters,- ofwhich the following is a specification.

This invention relates broadly to orchard heaters, and specifically todraft appliances for such heaters.

I The primary object of the invention isto provide, in connection withan orchard heater wherein liquid fuel is used, a simple and efficientdevice whereby the admission of a draft or drafts of air to the surfaceof the liquid fuel maybe controlled for regulating the rapidity ofcombustion and, consequently, for regulating the amount of heatgenerated. I

A further object is to provide means for continuously introducing air tothe fuel within the fue'l container associated with means whereby astrong blast of air may be introduced upon the surface of said fuel whenthe latter has burned down tov a point where it has become less volatileand comwith a substantially steady generation of heat.

\Vith these and other objects in view, the invention resides in thefeatures of construction, arrangement of parts and combinations ofelements which will hereinafter be full y described, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, inwhich Figure 1 is a top plan View of an orchard heater "embodying myinvention; Fig. 2 1s a vertical section on the line 22, Fig. l;

I Fig. 3 is a similar section on line 33, Fig.

1, showing a modified form of blast tube; Fig. 4: is an enlarged detailsection on the line 4-4, Fig. 2,'showing the preferred form of blasttube; Fig. 5 is an enlarged top plan view of the draft regulator,showing the rotary disk in a position permitting the introduction of astrong blast of air through the blast tube; and Fig. 6 is a similar viewshowing the draft to the tubes completely out off. v

. Referring to said drawings, in'which like designating charactersdistinguish like parts throughout the several views1 indicates the oilcontainer or receptacle of an ordinary type of orchard heater, and2 aremovable cover therefor, said cover. being of frusto-conical form andhaving a central opening or fine inclosed by the lower end of a stack 3.At a point laterally of the stack,

. the cover is upwardlydished to form a flat circular platform 4.Rigidly attached to v said cover, by any su table means, preferably byspot-welding, so as to embrace said platform is the lateral base-flange5 of a circular upwardly-dished plate 6 having a- Projected through andsus-- fiat surface. pended .from said plate at'points lateral 'Wltl]respect to its center are two tubes 7 and 8,the former being a drafttube and the latter a blast tube. slightly separated, as shown, and havetheir aXes located at points equidistant from the center of said plate.Said tubes. depend through suitable openings 9 and 10 provided thereforin the platform 4 at points in substantial vertical alinement with theopenings in which they are fitted in plate 6.

Pivoted centrally upon and resting closely on said plate 6 is a rotarydisk' 11 having a large circular aperture or opening 12 appropriatelylocated therein and adapted to be brought into direct registration witheither of the tubes 7 or 8. Also located in said disk are tworelativelysmaller circular apertures 13: and l ithe radial distance ofwhose centers from the pivot 15 is the same as that of the axes of thetubes. 7 and 8 from said pivot. Further, the; openings 12 an'd13 havetheir centers separated a distance'substantially equal to. thatseparating the axes of said tubes 7 and 8; and the open- Said tubes arebut within the container 1, being projected" ings 13v and 14 have theircenters separated a like distance: so that either the first mea ztionedtwo thereof or the last mentioned two thereof may simultaneouslyregister'with'i' the tubes 7 and 8. Thus, as will be obvious, whenaperture 12 registers with draft tube tube 8; and when aperturel2registers with blast tube 8, draft tube-7 remains wholly closed againstthe admission of air.

Substantially V- haped lugs 16 andl'lhe struck up 'at appropriatelylocated points and stand in substantially vertical positions, said lugsconstituting stops against. which the upright arm of a finger-piece 18carried by said disk abuts for limiting the extent of I *of the liquidfuel in the container irrespecseveral hours duration,

rotationjof the disk in either direction, as

shown'in Figs. 5 and 6. I

The draft tube 7.' s provided with a longitudinal slot in onesidethereof. While said slot may be of any desired length, it preferablyextends from a point in close proximity to the platform 4 to a pointclose to the lower end of the tube, as shown, thus permitting the airadmitted through its upper end to be freely discharged over the surfacetive of the depth of said fuel. On the other hand, tube 8 is designed asa blast-tube for directing a strong blast of air at a single point onthe surface of the fuel when the latter has 'beenconsumed down to apoint where the lower end of the tube is'exposed, thusproducingcombustion of substantially a blow-torch character which results in theless volatile portion of the fuel being com' pletely consumed so as'toleave no residuum in the container. Said tube is therefore preferablymade solid and imperforate, or substantially so, from end to end, asshown in Fig. a, although a plurality of small perforations may, ifdesired, be provided therein, as shown in tube 8 inFig. 3. 1

In practice,'when the container 1 is full and but a medium fire isrequired for burn- -ing continuously over a period of several hoursduration, the disk 11 is rotated to a oint wherein small aperture 13registers with draft tube 7 When it is desired to produce a strong firewhich will require no adjustment of the regulator during a, period ofthe rotation of said disk is continued until the large aperture 12registers with draft tube 7. In the first: mentioned position of thedisk the smallaperture 14: also registers with blast tube 8,

and in the last mentioned position the small aperture 13 also registers.with said blast tube 8; but this registration with tube 8 has no effectupon combustion until the fuel level has receded to a pointwhere thelower end of said blast tube 8 is uncovered, provided tube 8 isimperforate, as shown in Fig. i .4; or, if said tube-is perforated tosome ex.-

tent, as shown in Fig. 3 wherein is illuss trated a modified form ofsaid tube, a small additional volume of air will of coursebe admitted tothe container through the perforations. A'suflicient volume of air is introduced through draft tube 7 alone for producing efficient combustionof the lighter,

more volatile'portion ofthe fuel; and when combustion becomes morediflicult, as when the lighter surface oil has been consumed, the lowerend of blast tube 8 is uncovered, admitting'a blast of air therethroughwhich facilitates combustionto the extent that all of the fuel will beconsumed. When it is desired that a strong blast of air be introducedupon the surface of the fuel, .as

when the fuel is of low grade and it has burned down to a point where itis consumed with difliculty, the disk may be rotated to a point whereaperture 12 registers with blast tube 8.

As is obvious, thema-nner of adjustment of the disk will necessarily bedetermined to a great extent by the character and quality of the "liquidfuel employed and by the amount of heat which it is desiredito generate,variations in adjustment being required fordifferent gradesof fuel, forthe same fuel at difi'erentlevels within the container, and forregulating the rapidity of combustion for producing a desired intensityof heat. It will however be noted that, the disk having been adjustedwith two of its apertures in registering relation to the tubes 7 and 8,the regulation of combustion is thereafter accomplished automatically,the rate of combustion being-substantially constant' until the morevolatile portion of the fuel has been consumed, at or about which timethe lower end of tube 8' is uncovered, admitting therethrough additionalair which imparts renewed vigor or impetus to the combustion.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

g 1. In an orchard heater, the combinationwith a fuel container, of acover for said container, a plurality .of tubes projected through saidcover and depending within said container, and a disk mounted to rotateover said tubes, said disk having therein a plurality of apertures whichare so located that one or more of said tubes-may be opened for theadmission of air there through, one of said apertures difi'ering in sizefrom the others.

- 2. In an orchard heater, the combination with a fuel container, of acover for sald .containentwo tubes projected through said cover anddepending within said container,

a disk mounted to rotate over said tubes, said disk havingan aperturetherein which is adaptedupon rotation of said disk to aswith the twotubes orthe two smaller apertures may simultaneously register with saidtubes.

3. In an orchard heater, the combination with a fuel container, of acover for said container, a draft tube and a blast tube jected throughsaid cover and depen g within said container, a disk mounted to rotateover said tubes, said disk having a large aperture and two smallerapertures therein,

said apertures having their centers disposed at points substantiallyequidistant from the center of said disk, and adjacent apertures havingtheir centers separated from each other a distance substantially equalto that between the axes of said tubes.

4. In an orchard heater, the combination with a fuel container, of acover for said container, an upwardly dished flat platform formed onsaid cover, a draft tube 'and ablast tube projected through saidplatform and depending within said container, a disk mounted to rotateover said tubes, said disk separated a distance substantially corre-.

having a large aperture and two smaller apertures therein, each of saidapertures be-' ing adapted to register with each of said tubes at pointsin the rotation of said disk, adjacent --apertures having their centerssponding to that separating the axes of said tubes, so that in oneposition of said disk both of the said tubes are closed, in anotherposition the blast tube is opened-to its full capacity while the drafttube is maintained closed, in another position the draft tube is openedto its full capacity and the blast tube is opened to a 'part onlyof itscapacity, and in another position both tubes are opened to a part onlyof their respective capacities.

5. In an orchard heater, the combination with a fuel container of acover'for said container, an upwardly-dished flat platform formed insaid cover, a circular plate mount 'ed in embracing relation to saidplatform, a draft tube and a blast tube rojected through said plate andsaid plat orm and suspended from the former within said container, adisk mounted to rotate over said tubes, said 'disk having a largeaperture and two smaller apertures therein, said apertures having theircenters located at points substantially equidistant from the center ofsaid disk, and adjacent apertures having their centers separated fromeach other a distance substantially corresponding to that separating'theaxes of said tubes.

6. In an orchard heater, the combination with an oil container, ofautomatic draftregulating means comprising a draft tube and a .blasttube suspended within the con-' tainer from said cover, said draft tubebeing adapted to continuously conduct air to the with an oil container,of automatic draft-- regulating means comprising a draft tube and ablast tube suspended within the container fromsaid cover, said drafttube being adapted to continuously conduct air to the surface of the oilirrespective of the depth of the latter, and said blast tube beingadapted to conduct air in large volume to .the surface of the oil afterthe latter has burned to a level where the lower end there- 'of isuncovered, and a rotatable disk mounted over the upper ends of the saidtubes and having a series of openings of v'aried sizes therein, saidtubes'having their axes located laterally with respect to andequidistant from the axis-of said disk, said openings being spaced fromthe axis of the diskia distance corresponding to the distance of thetubes from said axis and .alsobein separated a distance corresponding tothe distance between said tubes, so that both tubes I may be opened tothe admission of air and that either a large or medium volume of air maybe admitted throu h the draft tube.

In testimony whereo I affix my signature in presence of two subscrlbingwitnesses.

WILLIAM C. SCHEU. \Vitnesses: I

H. J. HUMPnRnr, H. A. PERKINS.

